Command Line Usage

Compile .less files to .css using the command line

Heads up! If the command line isn't your thing, learn more about GUI compilers for LESS.

lessc

The binary included in this repository, bin/lessc works with Node.js on *nix, OSX and Windows.

Usage: lessc [option option=parameter ...] <source> [destination]

Options:

   -h, --help               Print help (this message) and exit.
   -v, --version            Print version number and exit.
       --verbose            Be verbose.
   -s, --silent             Suppress output of error messages.
       --line-numbers=TYPE  Outputs filename and line numbers. ☃ (1)
  -rp, --rootpath           Set rootpath for URL rewriting in relative imports and URLs. ☃ (2)
       --include-path       Set include paths. ☃ (3)
  -ru, --relative-urls      Re-write relative URLs to the base less file.
       --strict-imports     Force evaluation of imports.
   -x, --compress           Compress output by removing some whitespaces.
       --yui-compress       Compress output using ycssmin
  -O0, -O1, -O2             Set the parser's optimization level.  ☃ (4)
       --no-color           Disable colorized output. 

☃ Comments:

(1) --line-numbers TYPE can be:

• comments: output the debug info within comments.
• mediaquery: outputs the information within a fake media query which is compatible with the SASS format.
• all does both

(2) --rootpath: sorks with or without the relative-urls option.

(3) --include-path: separated by :. Use ; on Windows.

(4) Optimization levels: The lower the number, the fewer nodes created in the tree. Useful for debugging or if you need to access the individual nodes in the tree.

Examples

  # compile bootstrap.less to bootstrap.css
  $ lessc bootstrap.less bootstrap.css

  # compile bootstrap.less to bootstrap.css and minify (compress) the result
  $ lessc -x bootstrap.less bootstrap.css